


The First Time Mello Trusted Matt

by AlyaRayne



Series: The First Time Series [2]
Category: Death Note
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-20
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-27 03:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/973875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyaRayne/pseuds/AlyaRayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Mello cried in front of Matt had been when he was eight and Matt was still seven.  They had been sleeping soundly, not a care in the world, when suddenly Mello screamed, his voice high and panicked in the night. Matt was awake and out of his bed in an instant, nearly launching across the room to where Mello lay in his own bed. He got there in less time than it took to blink.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Time Mello Trusted Matt

The first time Mello cried in front of Matt had been when he was eight and Matt was still seven. They had been sleeping soundly, not a care in the world, when suddenly Mello screamed, his voice high and panicked in the night. Matt was awake and out of his bed in an instant, nearly launching across the room to where Mello lay in his own bed. He got there in less time than it took to blink. 

The blonde was wrapped in his covers, his eyes shut, his body thrashing. Matt took a hit to the side when he got just a bit too close to the flailing limbs, but he shook it off, instead he grabbed Mello’s shoulder and shook hard. “Mels!” The blonde jerked, grabbing Matt’s arm and sitting up in the same movement. Matt’s wrist protested, but again he brushed it aside. The blonde was panting, his hair messy and tangled around his face, his eyes wild in the dimly lit room. “Mello, it’s ok, it’s jus’ Mattie. ‘member me?” Mello blinked, his eyes clearing slightly. He focused his sleepy, still terrified gaze on Matt, his expression confused. 

“Mattie?” Matt gave a small smile. 

“Yeah, Mels. It’s jus’ me. You’re safe here. At Wammy’s, ‘member. Nothin’s gonna hurt you.” The blonde relaxed slightly, his grip loosening on Matt’s hand enough to let the redhead link their fingers together. Mello shivered, his eyes darting around the room once before flying back to Matt’s face. 

“What happened?” Matt bit his lip, and then slid up on the bed with Mello. It was too cold to stay outside the covers. Mello allowed Matt to tuck them in, obviously not all in the real world yet. 

“You sorta started screamin’, and then you flailed around like you were having a seizure or somethin’.” The blonde sighed. “Was it a nightmare?” Mello nodded slowly, bring his hands up to rub his face vigorously. “You know, my momma always said that talking about it would make it better.” Mello looked up, his eyes dark and lifeless. 

“You don’t want to hear about all that. Trust me.” Matt brought his arms around the still shaking blonde, pulling him closer.  
“Yeah, but how do I know that ‘nless you tell me.” Matt grinned winningly, but Mello didn’t seem to notice. 

“I dreamt about my parents.” said the blonde, his voice soft. “The night they died.” Matt nodded.

“Yeah?” Mello looked away from him, towards the wall that held all of Matt’s posters. He bit his lip, which shocked Matt, because the blonde never-ever-not-in-a-million-years did that. “What happened?” asked the redhead when the silence had become too quiet. Mello started, his teeth clamping down a bit harder on his lip than was strictly comfortable. He winced and rubbed his finger over the red mark as he turned back to look at Matt. 

“I was in my room asleep, and I heard something from downstairs. It was dark, maybe three in the morning, and I was....I was scared of the dark.” the blonde paused. “Not that I am anymore. Only sissies are afraid of something so stupid.” Matt himself was afraid of the dark, which is why he had a Zelda nightlight (which he knew Mello was grateful for too, even if he didn’t say it) but he let the comment slide as Mello continued. “I called out for my mother, but she didn’t come, so finally I got out of bed and went to see where she might have been.” he took a breath, his fingers clenching in the blankets. 

“The floor was cold, because it was winter and I’d forgotten my shoes. I remember thinking that there must be a leak in the roof somewhere, because I kept stepping in something wet. It was kind of annoying, because it made me colder.” he wrapped his arms around his torso, his head bowing slightly forward. “Anyway, I finally made it downstairs, and that was when I heard it.” Matt was just about on the edge of his seat, his heart pounding in his chest. This story would have been awesome, had it not obviously upset Mello so much. He couldn’t help leaning forward slightly, though. 

“What did you hear?” The left corner of Mello’s mouth twitched before pulling into a frown. 

“My father ran a big portion of the Mafia in our area. I’ve been around guns since I was born, so it really wasn’t that hard to recognize the sound of a silencer.” The redhead’s own fingers clenched in the blankets. “But I was tired, so I didn’t really realize what it meant until I went into the living room.” Something splashed down on Matt’s hand, and it was only then that he realized his friend was crying. “I-I saw my uncle first. He was laying over the couch, his eyes wide, staring right at me. There was a bullet hole between his eyes, and blood was everywhere.

“I saw my father’s friend next. The one he called his second in command. I don’t know if I ever knew his first name, but I had always called him Mr. Petov. He’s been shot in the head too, and I think I might have seen some of his brain coming out, but I don’t know.” he took a breath, his voice thick with tears now. Matt’s hand was soaked, as was the blanket, but the redhead took no notice, instead settling for wrapping his arm more tightly around Mello. The blonde didn’t even protest, a testament to how upset he was. 

“It took me that long to realize that the men who killed my family were still in the room. And so was my father.” he sniffed, his shoulders shaking. “He-he was yelling, his voice so loud and panicked. I think he said something about my mother, but I don’t know. All I really remember is that one of the men was really tall, and he was holding my father down, pinning his arms behind his back. The other man was in front of him, laughing.” Matt could hear his teeth grinding with these words. “That was when my father saw me.” another sniff. “His eyes, there were so scared. He looked almost as terrified as I felt, but when he saw me he looked horrified. Without saying a word, he looked from me to the door and back. The signal he had taught me that told me to run away. I was going to leave, actually I was leaving, but then the man in front of my dad put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. 

“That was when I ran back up the stairs. But I slipped in some of the water when I got to the first floor and fell...” he stopped, his body quivering, his knuckles white from his grip on the blankets. “Turns out it wasn’t water.” 

“What was it?” But Matt already knew. He had seen enough movies to know. 

“Blood. My m-m....” he choked on the word, a cry wrenching from his throat. He leaned closer to Matt, his head bowed so low that the redhead couldn’t see any of his face for his hair. Mello sat like that for a few minutes with Matt making soft shushing sounds to try and comfort his friend. Finally, after almost five minutes, Mello sat up a little straighter, his eyes red and puffy, but no longer crying. 

“If you can’t...” Mello cut him off. 

“No, I have to do this. I have to be stronger than this.” Matt stayed silent, realizing just how much this meant to Mello. He wondered if he had ever told anyone this story before. For some reason, the thought of being the only one to know made Matt feel special.

Mello cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and continued. “My mom must have been running to get me when they shot her.” his voice was dead. Cold and lifeless as his eyes. Matt sighed, his heart welling with sadness for his friend. “She must have tried to keep going, but she collapsed half way down the hallway. I hadn’t seen her because the hallway was dark, but the police found her when they came.” he paused again, his gaze flicking over to Matt. “You like me, right? I mean, we’re friends right?” Matt nodded, his hair falling into his face.

“Course we are, Mels.” The blonde relaxed slightly. 

“Good, cause I need you to be my friend still after I tell you the rest. Can you do that?” the redhead felt his eyes widen. What the hell could have happened that had Mello so convinced Matt would hate him? 

“Yeah. You’re my best friend, Mello. I’m not gonna leave you.” Mello smiled slightly, which Matt returned quickly. 

“The men had seen me. That’s why they shot my father right then, and they were after my whole family, so naturally if I was still alive, then they couldn’t stop.” Matt sucked in a breath. “I think I heard them before I saw them, but I’m not sure. I do know that I have never run faster in my life. I went to my dad’s study and locked the door, but I could hear them trying to break it down, so I went to the phone and called the police.” Matt nodded, though he didn’t understand the hint of disgust in Mello’s voice. What was wrong with that?

“There was an old steamer trunk against the wall that my dad had taught me to hide in when there was trouble, so I hid there. I heard the men come in and shout something, but I couldn’t tell what it was. The trunk had a lock on the inside that my dad had put in incase anything happened, and I’d locked it, but it was dark, and I started to cry. 

“It took the police ten minutes to get there and by the time they did, the men were gone. They got me out of the trunk, and after the funeral they sent me here.” He stopped, his eyes darting over Matt’s form. “Do you hate me?” Matt blinked. Had he missed the part where Mello turned into Satan’s spawn and ate the world, or something? Because he didn’t remember anything in the story that would make his hate his friend. 

“For what?” the blonde looked at him as though he was some kind of anomaly with six arms and no head. 

“I was a coward, Mattie.” he said, almost spitting the word. “I did nothing to the men who murdered my family. I just sat there crying like a baby. Like a stupid coward.” he trembled, the tears back in his eyes now. Suddenly Matt understood what his friend was feeling. It made his heart ache. What had his parents taught him that made him like this?  
“Mello, I’m glad you didn’ do nothing.” the blonde jerked, looking up at him with shocked watery blue eyes.

“What?” the redhead boy slid in front of his friend and put his hand on the blonde’s shoulders like he had seen people do during intense moments in movies. He looked straight into those wet, tear-filled blue eyes. Mello sucked in a breath. 

“I’m glad you didn’t do anything.” he said again. “I’m glad cause if you had, they probably woulda killed you, and then I wouldn’t have a friend here.” the blonde’s lip trembled slightly. “There’s nothin’ wrong with being scared, Mels. And I don’ think that people are brave cause they do dangerous stuff. I think that people are brave cause they live through the bad stuff and are still happy. Which makes you the bravest person I know.” 

The smallest, most fragile smile Matt had ever seen spread across Mello’s face, his eyes lighting just the smallest bit with the life that usually filled them. He surged forward suddenly, catching Matt off guard as he wrapped his arms around his friend. 

Matt blinked in surprise, but instantly returned the hug, squeezing as tight as he could, Mello’s hair tickling his nose, making it twitch, but he ignored it. He could feel Mello’s jaw moving against his shoulder, and just barely made out the words ‘thank you’ being whispered. Matt grinned, wide and happy. 

A minute later Mello pulled away, not a trace of the awkward fidgeting that he usually had after their hugs. Matt was glad. He liked hugging Mello. 

“We should sleep.” said the blonde finally after he had looked at the clock. Matt agreed, yawning widely. It was late and he was exhausted. The redhead went to move off the bed to go to his own, figuring Mello would probably shove him off if he didn’t go quickly enough. He was called back, though, by Mello saying his name. “Mattie.”

“Yeah, Mels?” the blonde sighed. 

“Will you...stay with me tonight?” It was said in a strained voice that spoke of his hatred of being weak. Matt slid back under the covers and curled on his side, facing his friend.  
“Sure.” he said as soon as he was settled. He could almost hear the blonde roll his eyes. There was no thanks this time. 

“Good night, Mattie.” 

“Goodnight, Mels.” said the redhead, his voice thick with sleep.

“Mihael.” Matt’s eyes opened and he blinked in confusion. 

“What?” the sheets rustled as Mello shifted to lay with his back to Matt. 

“My real name is Mihael. Mihael Keehl.” This made the redhead boy’s wide grin return, his heart swelling with emotions he couldn’t readily name. “I know you wanted to know my name because I know yours, so that’s it.” The blonde’s shoulders were tense, as if he was expected Matt to laugh at his name. Instead of laughing, the redhead simply slipped his arm around Mello’s waist, pulling him close so the blonde’s back was to Matt’s chest. Mello squirmed and seemed to want to move away, but Matt tightened his grip and the blonde stilled. He was still rigid, though. 

“Nice to meet you, Mihael Keehl. I’m Mail Jeevas.” the blonde snorted, but relaxed slightly. 

“I know.” finally he snuggled down into the covers, his hand finding Matt’s where it rested against his belly. He used to cuddle his mom and dad like this, and it felt nice to be held again. Not that he would ever say that out loud. “Goodnight, Mail.” 

“Night, Mihael.” 

Fin

**Author's Note:**

> All of this is entirely my own headcanon, so there are no actual spoilers for Mello's backstory. Also I apparently love to torture characters that I write, which kind of makes me sad. Anyway, this story is set somewhere around New Year 1996 for those of you keeping track of the First Time timeline. Any mistakes are my own. I'm currently looking for a Beta, but I don't have one yet. :( I hope you liked it! If you want to talk about the First Time Series, or MellMatt, or Death Note in general hit me up on tumblr: http://alyarayne.tumblr.com/.


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